Once in a Lifetime
by Vive La Resistance
Summary: Who was Maddy sitting with when Danny called her? The answer to that might just change the entire story.
1. Chapter 1

_I've been thinking on this one for a very long time, at least a couple of years. It took me some courage to write it, but really I'm just trying to get the idea going in my head. SO… disclaimer: I don't own Blood Diamond in any fashion, and this is purely for fun. Enjoy :)_

Maddy was tired.

She'd spent all day yesterday at the hospital, this morning too. It was around noon when she finally left. It seemed as if the nurses had enough of her, they had practically pushed her out the ICU doors. She was half sure it was because she reeked to high hell.

The only relief she had was the knowledge that Danny would be able leave by Friday, it was only Wednesday, but just the thought greatly reassured her.

It'd been one of the worst weeks of her life, even worse than the time her dad had a panic attack in front of a thousand people during his big senate speech. Maddy had thought Danny was gonna die. There had been no way possible for her to get to him, find his location (she didn't know anyone in the area, moreover where he even was), or get help to him. Nothing would have worked, short of a miracle.

She supposed it was somewhat of a miracle, or at least her panicking that had led to a solution. Beth had been sitting with her for lunch that afternoon.

Beth, her world famous doctor of a sister saw her crying and ran to help.

Beth had a lot of ties in Africa, particularly in places of conflict. Beth had been the one to get her to Africa in the first place, showed her pictures of crying babies and severed limbs, and Beth knew people near the GPS coordinates she'd been able to track using her SAT phone.

They'd contacted people in the area and had them searching before lunch had even ended ( Maddy couldn't have eaten anyway).

Maddy had been up all night before the call finally came in. Beth left earlier that evening, something about a late night pager to the hospital she was teaching interns at. That left Maddy alone to work out all the details.

She knew Danny couldn't stay in Sierra Leone, he couldn't stay in Africa period. Not when he was hurt so badly. But, if she brought him to London, Van de Kaap would find him and like Danny said "you might as well kill me".

That's where the money came in. Most of Maddy's money came from her father's hard work, but her mother also came from a very wealthy family, they had one of the biggest bank accounts on Long Island.

Maddy was never wanting for money, but she rarely dipped her hands into the family funds. She'd gotten to Afghanistan through her own hard work at journalism. Her mother had been kicked out of the family for marrying her father, that is until he'd climbed up the military ladder and ended up as a senator of North Carolina. But Maddy would suck it up for Danny.

Maddy used the cash to get Danny on a plane, she told her mom she needed it to get out of the conflict zone. She gave the pilots and the doctor aboard a fake name and made sure Danny hadn't woken for the entirety of the flight.

He'd gotten to London Royal Hospital on Monday morning. Ideally, she'd have Beth treating him, but Beth had left the same day Danny arrived, mother begging one of them for help in setting up their cousins wedding at the family vacation house.

Maddy's mom desperately wanted her to attend (Claiming she'd invited some very eligible bachelors, and that Maddy should put aside her harsh feeling for the groom, her former boyfriend). Begrudgingly Maddy admitted it was a good idea, her lips turning up at the idea of dragging Danny along with her. When she told her mom she'd be bringing someone, Maddy could hear the curiosity and the surprise in her moms voice, especially when she told her they'd met in Africa ( there was no way Maddy could hide that accent). Her mom had been delighted at the news, Maddy was just happy Danny would be far away from Van de Kaap.

While Danny was in surgery to remove the bullet that Monday evening, Maddy went shopping, not because she was a spoiled brat, but rather out of necessity. She wanted to keep up the pretense that Danny wasn't running for his life (romantically, part of her wanted him with her under his own decision) and besides, Danny desperately needed clothes, cause he couldn't walk around the airport in the scrubs the hospital had given him (no matter how good she thought he'd look walking around in just a pair of those low cut loose drawstring pants).

She'd never felt better picking out a man's clothes. She dug through countless rows of shirts and jeans, she asked some of the male store attendants for their sizes, comparing their builds to Danny's. Her heart swelled when she walked up to that counter, a pile of clothes in her arms and a shaving kit tucked by her side, she didn't feel used for once, it was nice to be _needed_.

Wednesday afternoon found Maddy wanting for a shower. She'd never been a messy, dirty person, panic just brought out the worst in her. Maddy prided herself in being a no nonsense, organized, clean-cut kind of person, it had helped her go far in journalism, she was never afraid get deep into what she was reporting. Except this time, she may have gone a bit too far, but maybe it was worth it.

Maddy's hotel room was covered in paper, clothes, and takeout boxes. The things she'd bought for Danny were still in their bags, strewn about the room, covered in tissue paper. Maddy herself had just gotten out of the showers, comfortable in pair of snug fitting jeans, and one of the overly large men's shirts she had pulled out of one of the various bags, Maddy was still trying to tame her sopping wet hair.

Except the doorbell buzzed, and Maddy couldn't figure out why it had buzzed at all, because she was certain she told the front desk that she didn't want any visitors, especially business looking men.

When it buzzed for a third time, Maddy took that as a sign that whoever was at the door wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

Maddy didn't expect to see her little sister at the door when she opened it, let alone her cousin and her other younger sister. She tried to open her mouth and say something, but nothing seemed appropriate. Her youngest sister just pushed the door open wider and strutted in, Maddy could hear her high heels clicking on the tile.

"Geeze Mad's, when mom told us you where here, I almost didn't believe her. I mean this place is sooo subpar to the Ritz."

Maddy watched as Valerie's hand trailed along the contour of the couch, Maddy knew she was inspecting every single part of the room, eagerly looking for something to gossip about.

Maddy stood by the door awkwardly, waiting for the rest of the party to shuffle in.

"What are you doing in London?"

Maddy's cousin, Stacy crossed her arms defensively " Shopping of course! The wedding is in a week, I need to pick up my dress. It's an Alexander McQueen, of course. I'm also picking up Greg's suit."

"You can think of it as a sort of bachelorette party." Valerie added

Maddy's other sister, Lily stood quietly by the door.

Valerie dramatically waved her hands at the mess around the room " Tornado blow through here Mads? Or did you just have a bit of fun last night?" She picked up one of the button down shirts Maddy had bought for Danny.

Slightly panicked, Maddy rushed over to snatch the shirt out of Valerie's claws.

She watched Stacy dig through another pile of clothes on the couch, and sniff appreciatively at the cologne she'd picked out.

"Nice hello…. we haven't seen you in almost a year and you can't even share some of your nightly adventures with your sisters."

Gesturing to the clothes Maddy let out a slow breath "They belong to a friend"

Like two starved vultures, Valerie and Stacy raced forward eagerly

"What kind of friend?"

"Are you gonna bring him to the party?"

"He can't be a better catch than Greg was!"

Maddy wanted to plug her ears childishly, cause at least then she could drown out a little bit of the noise. It was Lily who eventually rescued her.

"Hey, guys? I thought we were going out to lunch? I'm starving!"

Val let out a low huff " Oh yeah, well I guess we can talk about Maddy's new conquest over lunch."

The others began to pile out the door.

Maddy could see Stacy pouting as she left, eager to catch a glimpse of who she thought was Maddy's mystery man; it had been the same way with Greg. Before Maddy found out he was cheating on her with Stacy, she would have thought Stacy's behavior to be completely innocent, but really it seemed as though Stacy was intent on ruining every aspect of Maddy's life.

"Aren't you coming" Valerie waved her over, towards to now open door.

Maddy paused for a second "You didn't even call me to let me know you were here."

Valerie shrugged "I wanted to surprise you, besides, we didn't expect you back home until next month."

Maddy didn't really want to go with them, but she knew if she objected it would be a big deal. Her original plan had been to organize her and Danny's bags, and then head over to the hospital. She was almost certain that Danny would still be unconscious, they'd kept him on the ventilator despite the inherent risks of pneumonia because it was still too difficult for him to breath. They'd assured her that he'd be off it by tomorrow morning at the latest, but in the meantime he was kept sedated so he didn't choke on the tube.

Valerie led the way over to the elevator while Maddy locked the door behind her.

No one said anything on the way down, but Maddy could feel the curiosity pouring from all three of them, though Lily, as always, was the more reserved of them.

When Maddy stepped out into the parking lot wanted to roll her eyes at the sight; a gaudy cherry red convertible lay parked by valet. The others piled in, and she nearly giggled at the stereotypical sight. All sunglasses, windblown hair, and manicured nails, she was far from the crowd in the car. They ushered her in, and she was sure that they were gonna to one of those expensive vegetarian places that she hated so much.

On the car ride over Valerie tried to grill her for details; thankfully true to her word, mother hadn't told anyone anything. Maddy preferred to keep it that way, the snobby part of her family were very judgmental (a trait unfortunately inherited by Valerie), and Maddy would hate to think what they would say about a white boy from Africa. When Maddy was dating Greg, it had been all smiles from her mom's side of the family. Greg was handsome and very well off, but that wasn't why Maddy loved him, he had been sweet, and like her he wasn't afraid to get dirty doing his job; apparently the same went for his relationships.

The restaurant was exactly what Maddy thought it would be; marble floors, vaulted ceilings, a sweeping view of the city; all this just to eat your salad in. A glance at the menu made Maddy shudder, It had been hard for her to procure marshmallows in Sierra Leone; truffles would have been impossible. Maddy would have enjoyed a bar far more, a Guinness in her hand and a steak on her plate, she'd never been one for pretty looking meals. There were other things on the menu, but everyone else ordered a salad, so Maddy did too, albeit she added seared tuna, the closest thing she could get to a steak. She pretended she didn't see them when they all gaped at her.

During lunch, Maddy did her best to ignore the comments made by her sister and cousin. Instead, she talked about Sierra Leone, it's rugged beauty, so unlike anywhere else she had been before. Valerie and Lillian had seemed genuinely interested, they asked about her time spent in the refugee camps and discussed some of the ethnic cuisine. Throughout this Maddy could see Stacy boredly picking at her salad.

"Come on Maddy! We wanna hear about your new boy toy!" Stacy whined

Valerie joined in "Yeah Mads, we're not stupid, we know you have one. Just tell us what he's like, you met in London, right?" she leaned forward and whispered "he doesn't have bad teeth does he? I mean if that's why you don't want us to meet him that's ok, they can be fixed really easily."

"No he doesn't have bad teeth" Maddy picked apart the tuna slices on her plate.

"Well, just tell us! Come on Mads, we'll all be really happy for you!" Lilly sounded excited as the rest.

"We met in Africa"

They were silent

"He was one of the other journalists right? I knew it! You told me about the one in Afghanistan." Valerie spoke quickly

Maddy took a sip of her drink "He's from Rhodesia, well Zimbabwe now, we met in Sierra Leone though."

Valerie was the first to answer "Oh great, when are we gonna meet him?"

"I'm taking him to the wedding, if that's okay with you, Stacy?"

"Oh yeah." Stacy stuttered a bit "sure, he can hang out with Greg."

Maddy nodded as she speared a piece of her fish, she had to get out of here. She had known they would be like this, but she thought at least they'd be a bit better about it.

When Maddy got up to go to the bathroom, her purse forgotten on the seat of her chair. It unexpectedly rang, Stacy and Valerie unsurprisingly decided it would be best to answer it. Stacy, holding the phone, read the caller ID and proceeded to answer, even though she had seen the London Royal Hospital abbreviation.

_OK, so let me know what you think? I know, no Danny :( he'll be in here soon enough though, I promise._


	2. Chapter 2

When Maddy stepped out of the ladies room the last thing she expected to see was Stacy holding her cell phone. Maddy knew that her cousin was nosy; she just didn't think that anyone would actually dare to be that invasive.

She nearly ripped the phone out of Stacy's hand when she got to the table.

"What are you doing with my phone?"

Stacy rolled her eyes "relax Mads, I just thought I'd take a message for you."

Maddy wanted to strangle her, especially when she looked at the caller ID "Stacy, that was a really important call! You can't just answer my phone! What did they say?"

"Well, jeez Maddy, I didn't know what to think, I mean it was the hospital calling. I was genuinely concerned for you, you have put on a little weight." Stacy gestured at Maddy's figure

Maddy angrily pulled her jacket off the back of the chair and swung her purse back over her shoulder "Lily could you drop me off at the hospital?"

"Wait a minute!" Valerie held her arms out defensively in front of Lily "That's our car! You can't just leave us here! We had plans!"

Stacy joined in, whining "Yeah! I still have to register what I want for the wedding, and besides Mads, this is supposed to be like a light bachelorette party."

"A light bachelorette party?" Maddy couldn't contain her sigh

"Yeah, my other one is in New York, I invited soo many people Mads! My wedding planner wasn't even sure if you would make it on the list! I mean we weren't sure if you were coming and all" she trailed off.

"Lets go!" Maddy gestured towards Lilly again

As Maddy turned away and Lily hesitantly made her way towards the door, Stacy and Valerie hurriedly grabbed all their things and dropped ₤100 on the table.

"Wait! We're coming too!" They stumbled over their 6 inch heels on the way to the door.

* * *

When Danny joined the army in 1978, he was only 16. That was when the country was still Rhodesia.

He told the commander he was 18, the guy didn't even blink, just handed him a gun and taught him how to shoot.

And then suddenly, a year later, there was no more Rhodesia, and for Danny that meant there was no home.

The rebel troops of Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, were pushed into South Africa, and that was his place for a while, with the 32 Battalion; one of the most feared military groups in the South African army.

The "Terrible ones" they called them after the war. The thing was, Danny didn't remember doing anything that wasn't asked of them, they weren't cruel, but efficient. That's what made them the best at what they did.

South Africa entered an era of peace, while they were off fighting.

There was no apartheid in the war, it made no difference to any of them what color you were, as long as you were loyal and could shoot a gun. But the Apartheid in South Africa changed everything.

Danny liked the prospect of peace in South Africa. No apartheid, it was a good thing.

Just not for the 32 battalion.

The new government wanted no violence, and that meant no soldiers. They were disbanded, but they were still soldiers. None of them had been among society in a long time; they couldn't hold down jobs, they didn't get any recompense for their service.

The old government that had sent them off to Angola in the first place didn't want anything to do with them. That's when Danny got into the diamond business

He didn't regret it when he thought about it, though he knew he probably should. He would have done anything to get off that godforsaken continent. He'd been to England before to make some negotiations, but his "business partners" had followed him around town like a couple of vultures, no chance to get away.

Danny had loved Africa when he was little, loved the air, the feel of the dust beneath his toes. His family had been here since Africa was first colonized. They were farmers out in the bush, Danny rarely went into town as a kid, and he remembered begging his dad.

Then, one day he didn't have the chance anymore.

From then on Danny hated Africa, he had no home, and eventually his Rhodesian passport was of no value, and so he had no country. After the war he had no money, so he got good at tricking tourists. After the apartheid a poor white in Africa was no better than anyone else, and as far as he could tell, only the rich got somewhere in life. To the European tourists he wasn't good enough to lick their boots. The Americans were easy to trick out of a pretty penny. They were always looking for an "experience," something they could run back home and talk about with their friends. Danny had fallen in love with a girl like that once, when he told her she laughed at him, explained to him that he was just a fling, he was interesting, but she would never bring him home to meet her parents. After that, he never trusted anyone enough to let himself care for them, they always left him one way or another.

That's why it was a surprise when he woke up in London, especially when he didn't expect to wake up at all.

At least with the voice blaring on the intercom he figured it was London.

The thing was, when Danny woke up he couldn't breathe, and that worried him. He wanted to claw at his face, figure out what the problem was.

Till someone ran in, and held his arms down to keep him from thrashing. They told him to breathe out on three.

When he did, he was left choking, though there was nothing there.

He felt someone pound on his back, a doctor he thought?

"Mr. Bowen? Mr. Bowen? Daniel?!" The voice nearly yelling "I need to sit you up, but I'm gonna need your cooperation, It'll help you breathe a bit easier."

Bowen? That meant Maddy was here, Danny felt his heart leap; she hadn't forgotten about him. He felt the bed slide up beneath him, his hands reached out to grab something to keep himself from slipping down. Someone reached over and grabbed his shoulders; they held him up till the bed stopped moving. Danny felt like his chest was burning, he still couldn't get enough air, and he could feel his lungs crackling with each breath.

The doctor pressed a mask to his face for a moment before setting up a lightweight tube, so he could breathe through his nose.

"It will hurt to breathe for a while; you'll probably never run in a marathon ever again; though if it's any consolation, they're a pain in the ass anyway." The doctor smiled lightly at him and shined his penlight in Danny's eyes. He nodded approvingly and then stood up straight next to the bed.

"As for talking, that will be hard for a few days. You've been on a ventilator for a while; we had to take you off because you were showing acute signs of pneumonia on the x-rays." He held up the dark laminations as if to show Danny "Your throat is probably sore, I'll get a nurse to bring you some ice, in the meantime we've already contacted Mrs. Bowen, she should here any minute." Briskly the doctor tucked the folders beneath his arm and walked out of the room.

Soon after a nurse bustled in and fussed with the covers and the pillows, she handed him a cup of ice indicating that he should chew on those. It occurred to Danny that he had no idea what day it was, he had no idea how he had gotten here, though he was sure Maddy had something to do with it. He couldn't remember anything except for the warm weight of sand in his palm and the sun on his face, the thought made him close his eyes and suddenly he was really really tired...

* * *

Danny didn't often wake up to silence, more often than not; it was the sound of gunfire and screaming that woke him up. He felt a hand on his arm and heard her whisper "Danny? Archer?"

So, Maddy was here? He opened his eyes to see, she looked like he remembered, except maybe a bit more tired, dark circles hung under her eyes. He was happy to see her, but he didn't expect to feel angry. He supposed it was because he felt violated, he was so used to being in control, and now he wasn't even sure what day it was, or what was wrong with him. It hurt that she hadn't asked if he wanted to be saved, he had accepted his fate, only to be pulled back from his one chance a peace.

He couldn't help thinking what would happen once he got better, was he like a sick puppy to her? Once he was healed she would put him back where he came from. A onetime thing because she felt pity for him

He swallowed the dismay and anger he felt, and looked up at her. She reached out and tentatively tucked his hair back into place, before sweeping her palm down and feeling the week worth of whiskers growing on his face.

"Are you okay?"

He cleared his throat, but it still came out rougher than he expected " ja, but I've been better, ya know?"


	3. Chapter 3

The doctor held up various X-rays to the light, pointing at obscure pale white regions on scans of what appeared to Maddy as a set of rather poor looking lungs.

"What I'm saying Miss. Bowen is that this will heal into an extensive amount of scar tissue and that there was significant damage to both layers of the pleural membrane; in all honestly, this isn't good. If he had come in earlier there wouldn't have been as much tissue death, and then there's worrying signs of fluid build up here at the bottom of the scans which could mean an onset of pneumonia, and in his condition that could be deadly."

Maddy's mouth curled into a frown "But you have him on antibiotics though, shouldn't that be enough?"

The doctor turned towards her wiping his glasses on his lab coat. "It's not uncommon to see fluid build-up in the lungs when you have someone on a ventilator for more than a few hours; it's one of the risks we take. It's the inactivity that causes the fluid to stick; what he needs more than anything is to get active so that the fluid will break up instead of continuing to build up."

"So I just need to get him walking around?"

He nodded "Not as simple as it sounds though, I'm concerned that too much activity could aggravate his lungs even further. It's a catch 22. If he stresses the injury out too early, the long term effects to his health will be more devastating than they already are, but not doing so could cost him his life."

* * *

Maddy heard the dull thud of something hitting the wall and the squeal of a nurse as she walked urgently to Danny's room.

Her hands balled at her waist, she stood just at the doorway looking at the scene within.

"What _is_ going on in here?"

Maddy crossed her arms and stared at the remains of pale yellow juice dripping down the wall, the nurse standing abashedly in the corner of the room trying to wipe to yellow from what once was a pristine white uniform. Upon seeing Maddy she made a frantic scramble out the door.

"What is this bullshit?" Danny angrily gestured at the mess on the wall "they've been giving me shit that tastes like rhino piss."

"And you would know what rhino piss tastes like, right?" Maddy commented in amusement.

"Ja, well I'm fucking sick and tired of doing what everyone around here tells me to do, I'm tired of drinking shit that tastes like piss. No one around here will give me a cigarette, I haven't eaten anything in three days, and all I do is walk up and down the halls of this godforsaken hospital everyday! " He paused breathing a bit heavily

"A cigarette would kill you Danny; it's hard enough for you to take a walk down the hall." Maddy sat down heavily in a chair in the corner of the room.

"I need to get the hell out of here Maddy" Danny ran his hands through his hair wearily.

They sat in silence like that for a few minutes

"Danny?" Maddy began a bit hesitantly "When you get better…..I was hoping you would come with me."

Danny peered up at her "Oh ja? Where are you going now Maddy? South America, huh? To help the poor starving children, right?"

Maddy ignored his stinging comment "New York, my parents own a house there, I haven't been back in a few years, but it's a nice place to take a break, my cousin is getting married there in two weeks or so and….. I thought we could go."

"Ah so you just want to parade me around like some sort of rare animal, ja? White boy from Africa, show your whole family that you're very compassionate by taking in this sick "puppy" you brought all the way with you. Then you'll dump me when you're through, ship me back to Africa, or even better, right to Van De Kaap himself, get some sort of lekker prize out of it, huh?" Archer was sneering, his face turning red with rage "or better yet, take the messed up vet home to fix him? That's your thing isn't? You can take me home, and just like your father, a work in progress, a new project for your little game."

Danny was breathing harder and harder, she couldn't take it, she didn't want to listen.

Maddy pushed the call button

She didn't object when she was taken out of the room, all she could feel was the pain in her chest, right where her heart should have been.

* * *

Maddy felt so stupid. Tears streaming down her face, she closed the door to her hotel room and sank to the floor.

He didn't mean it; she knew it in her heart. He was bitter, he was hurt. He could be so sweet though, but that just made it sadder in a way, as if it was more significant because she knew he could be so nice.

Maddy just wanted to crawl to her bed and sleep. Let herself sink into oblivion for a few hours, just so that she wouldn't have to feel the pain for a while. It wouldn't work though, she knew it. Her dreams would be filled with dead Archer, angry Archer, and even sweet Archer, it was almost unbearable.

She wiped the tears from her eyes.

She should have told her sisters and cousin to join her, she almost wished she had. She'd left them sitting in their car stunned at her rudeness.

As soon as they'd gotten to the hospital entrance Maddy flew from the car with a few apologetic words and vague promises to meet up again, she hadn't meant it though.

Right now she could really use the company.

She was sure that they were still in town, or at least she sure hoped they would be.

Maddy picked herself up off the floor and headed towards phone in her room.

* * *

Maddy waited in the lobby of her hotel room dressed to the nines. Going out to a formal party wasn't what she had in mind, but it was part of Stacy's plans for the night, and Greg was going to be there.

If Maddy ever had a soft spot for Greg, it had been obliterated a long time ago. She really loved him once. She had even thought he might be the one she would marry.

He was very arrogant; she seemed to attract the sort. A big shot lawyer, fresh out of school, he'd started out small; taking hopeless cases almost no one could win, he was sympathetic, and she liked that. Greg was good at his job, a smooth talker.

Greg had been just as eager as her to prove himself on his own. Like her, he came from a well off family, but he wanted to do things by himself. They'd been similar in a lot of ways.

She moved in with him after a year of dating, and for a brief period she thought he might propose to her, but it all changed, especially after she started finding receipts in the trash; receipts for nice places, flowers, jewellery.

Maddy was first and foremost a journalist. She prided herself on her digging skills, her unwillingness to give up. One those receipts she saw the names of her cousins' favourite restaurants, jewellery she'd seen hanging around Stacy's neck. She'd been sly about it.

It made sense to Maddy. Stacy had always been a go getter, unafraid to get what she wanted no matter who she hurt in the process.

Confronting Stacy about it had been hard. She truly was apologetic, Maddy could see for herself that Stacy was head over heels for Greg.

She stepped to the side, it was all she could do, no use to hanging on to something that wasn't there, even if she had thought it was. Maddy lived with the pain, just like she did with everything else.

For months she could barely drag herself from her bed, things weren't so vibrant anymore, she could only feel the pain and the sadness. She found herself numb more often than not, and she wondered and hoped that it had been worth it to him to hurt her in such a way.

She picked herself back up again after sometime, she made her heart steel. She travelled, she saw, she did her job.

She hadn't been with anyone since, hadn't let herself fall in love, Maddy had a job to do, a job that she loved desperately and she would never let anyone interfere with it again


End file.
